Hundreds in La Crosse join in on national March for Our Lives Rally day

They came to support a movement.  They held their homemade signs.  They marched.  They cheered for the speakers who called for an end to gun violence.  To sales of assault-type weapons.  To the outsized influence of the NRA in politics.

Hundreds of people marched from Burns Park and then crowded into Cameron Square in downtown La Crosse on Saturday afternoon for the local March for Our Lives rally.

An event sparked by a month of unusual attention to a growing concern of gun violence and, specifically mass school shootings.

All of it coming in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14th that left 17 dead.

A shooting that seemed destined to fall into the familiar pattern of shock, call to action, pleas for calm, return to status quo.

That was before several students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High became activists.  

Which led to law changes in Florida.

Changes in Washington D.C.

And march and rallies more than a month later around the nation.  And in La Crosse.

On Saturday, hundreds listened to La Crosse ELCA bishop Jim Arends throw caution to the wind and call for a ban on sales of assault-type rifles like the AR-15.  “No civilian needs to own an AR-15,” the bishop preached, to the roar of crowd approval.

They joined in on the “We call b.s.!” call and response with Holmen School Board president Cheryl Hancock who derided the call to arms for teachers.

They applauded for the ballot initiatives and the candidates La Crosse county board Tara Johnson urged support for on the April 3rd ballot.

They shivered a little because it was blustery and windy and overcast and sometimes the signs that read, “Protect Kids Not Guns” and “Gun Reform Now” and “NRA’s Politicians Kill” were not always easy to hold.

Mayor Tim Kabat read a proclamation.  La Crosse state representative Jill Billings outlined policy initiatives. 

More than a dozen more speakers also issued a call to (fewer) arms.

In the crowd, students.  High school students.  Middle school students.  College students.

And the one constant refrain of wanting some kind of change when it comes to gun laws in the U.S.

As Kennedy Tossing, 15, said when leaving the rally, “I just think change needs to happen and not just people saying things.  Things actually need to happen.  People shouldn’t be able to buy assault weapons so easily. It just doesn’t make sense to me.”